Watch These 1979 Chicago Commercials for New Camaros and Firebirds

Firefighters and newsies tried to sell GM muscle at the turn of the ’80s.

Who would you trust around Chicago to sell you a Pontiac Firebird in 1979? Might it be the disco-fashion mavens from the North Shore? Or perhaps the heshers from Cicero who spend their non-metal time ripping donuts and bong hits in equal measure? Personally, I’d probably lean toward the latter, but Chicago’s Pontiac dealers in 1979 leaned toward a Chicago firefighter to shill for the late second-generation F-Body.

You see, FIREfighter and FIREbird both start with the same word. Ironically, FIRE is also a word associated with the destruction of most of the city in the late 19th century. That seems like a mixed message if I’ve ever heard one. One supposes that a century after the Great Fire of Chicago, nobody was left alive to be outraged. Ah, pre-internet times.

Anyway, the Firebird in choice comes in a nice double red. While it’s not the Bandit Trans Am, the Firebird still carried plenty of street-machine gravitas. Of course, you’ll notice no mention of engines or horsepower in the commercial. Given this comes in the depths of the Malaise Era, even a top-optioned Olds 403 struggled to generate 200 ponies at the flywheel.

If Camaros are more of your thing, another 1979 Chicago commercial touts a dealer lot full of ‘79 Camaros. Few people show affection for late second-gens these days. However, a lot crammed fence-to-fence with F-Bodies made quite a sight back in the day. We could probably live without the newsie trying to hock them, sure. But you probably remember when every borrow-the-porn-set-for-15-minutes-to-shoot-this dealership commercial featured this kind of schtick.

We bet that most of those Camaros have long since been turned into refrigerators. GM build quality didn’t peak so much in the late 1970s. In addition, these weren’t desirable years for just about any car, let alone the emissions-strangled American pony.